Carol Strause FitzSimonds

Being a printmaker is truly a privilege and joy. The 21st Century has brought to printmaking such potential for innovation in both the execution of the artists’ vision, and indeed, the very vision itself. As an artist, I can move at will, from using traditional materials such stone and wood and copper to new 21st Century materials and computer technology. Today is a fabulous time to be a printmaker. What I love about printmaking – is absolutely everything!

I find my inspiration in making ordinary places and common objects meaningful. Because of their natural beauty or intrinsic simplicity, images call to me. I try and tell their stories in line and color, in shadow and light. The emergence of the book as” art” has added yet another direction in concept and presentation for my work. Suddenly touch is linked to look and see. As a form, a book begs to be touched and opened. Each individual print becomes part of a larger, sculptural work.

Working with other printmakers on collaboration portfolios and book projects keeps my decades of printmaking viable and evolving. It enables me to bring new enthusiasm and vision to my own work as well as the classes I teach.
Born and raised in Virginia, Carol first studied printmaking at Hollins College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in fine art. After viewing the Boston’s Printmakers’ 1978 National Exhibition, she was so struck by the power, beauty and surface quality of several aquatint prints that she went back to school to formally study this printmaking technique. Married to a career military officer, Carol criss-crossed the country until finally settling in Portsmouth, Rhode Island in 2001. She teaches printmaking and bookbinding at the Providence Art Club in Rhode Island.

A former partner in the Torpedo Factory Printmakers Inc. workshop/gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, Carol’s prints, drawings and artist books have receive numerous awards in juried exhibitions across the country and are found in such collections as the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Newport Art Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art, and the United States Library of Congress. A founding artist member of the Art League of Rhode Island, Carol has achieved the rank of artist member or fellow in such national organizations as the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Society of American Graphic Artists, the American Artists Professional League, the Audubon Artists, and the Boston Printmakers.